


Lyra

by DreamsMatter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Gen, Marauders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 04:16:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18275591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamsMatter/pseuds/DreamsMatter
Summary: Before the Boy Who Lived, before the Golden Trio, before the Seconding Wizarding War, there was the first. There were the Marauders and their friends and the years they held dear to them before it was all ripped away. And in the background, there was a girl. One who saw it all, who was there for it all. Most who knew her are dead now, but her story still deserves to be told. This is the well known story of the generation who came before, told through the ever watchful eyes of Lyra Shafiq.





	Lyra

Lyra Shafiq was a beautiful eleven-year-old. She was groomed to absolute perfection as her mother insisted on her wearing skirts and blouses everywhere she went, so her wardrobe consisted of nothing but. Her wispy blond hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and she could feel it pulling at her scalp uncomfortably.

She stood on platform 9 ¾ with both of her parents looking down at her. They helped her put away her trunk in the back of the train along with her carrier containing her beloved black kitten she had named Rye. Her wand was tucked up her sleeve as she had gotten in the habit of always having it instantly within reach. She held her arm gently now, to reassure herself it was there, as she listened to her mother.

“Lyra,” she began firmly. “You mustn’t socialize with the wrong sort. The friends you make will determine your status for the rest of your life.” Her mother looked down at her with a barely concealed threat, for Lyra knew that her own status was not what concerned her mother. The Shafiq’s pureblood reputation was what mattered most to her family, and they expected her to uphold the same traditions.

Her father had little to say. “Don’t make a fool of yourself,” he reminded her smoothly. She nodded, and straightened up so there was no doubt she was committed. Both of her parents gave her looks instead of hugs and then they were gone.

As soon as they were out of sight, Lyra dropped her perfect posture and let out a huff of relief. She had been looking forward to Hogwarts desperately as she wanted to see what the world was like without her family’s stifling presence. She wanted to meet muggle-borns and halfbloods, and she wanted to do so without the sharp disapproval her parents were likely to express. Her curiosity knew no bounds.

With a grin, she ascended the steps onto the Hogwarts Express and began looking for a compartment. All around her there were children laughing and chatting, and she desperately wanted to make friends.

She opened the door to one of the compartments and found several older students sitting there. They were already wearing their robes which proudly proclaimed them as members of the Slytherin house. They looked up at her intrusion, and she could feel all four eyes assessing her. Instead of waiting for their analysis, she introduced herself.

“Hello,” she said. “I’m Lyra Shafiq.”

It was quite amusing to watch as they straightened up at the sound of her last name, and she allowed herself to smile a little wider. They all regarded her with stares of respect rather than assessment and then introduced themselves in turn.

“Lucius Malfoy,” said the boy closest to her. He had hair that rivaled hers in its brightness, and his eyes were piercing in a way that made her vaguely uncomfortable. He seemed to be completely in control of the group.

The boy across from Malfoy was large and intimidating with wild dark hair, and he introduced himself as Rodolphus Lestrange. His arm was around a girl with thick brown hair and wide eyes. “Bellatrix Black,” she said loudly, and then she grinned toothily. Lyra admitted to herself quietly that she was rather unsettled by the gleam in her eyes.

The last person was a girl with long blond hair who spoke softly. “Narcissa Black,” she answered. Her demeanor was vastly different than the others haughty attitude. Lyra figured she was the least frightening of the group.

They all told her that they were in their seventh year at the school, and she cursed her luck. The only people she had managed to meet would be gone the very next year. Malfoy seemed to be the speaker for the group, while the others just cackled and preened at everything he said.

“So you will be in Slytherin of course,” he stated. Lyra thought it was kind of rude to assume so, but she didn’t want to be off-putting to her knew friends so she simply smiled in response. They took that as agreement and continued to speak about the upcoming year.

Lyra found herself tuning them out until she hear her name mentioned. She glanced up and realized the unsettling girl, Bellatrix, had her uncomfortable gaze directed at her.

“Sorry, what was that?” she asked. They snickered at her slowness, and she could feel her cheeks darken in embarrassment. Less than ten minutes in, and she had already made a fool of herself.

“I said,” Bellatrix drawled with impossibly gleaming eyes. “That the Shafiq family has been decidedly neutral lately. I was wondering when you planned to join him?” Lyra stared at her, confused. Who on Earth would she be joining and why? Not thinking, she asked this exact question. This time, they all out right cackled at her confusion. All except Narcissa, who looked at her with what appeared to be sadness.

Bellatrix spoke again. “The Dark Lord of course!” she snorted in glee.

Lyra was shocked. Were these people truly allies of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named? The most feared wizard in the world? Just last week she had seen in her father’s paper that ten muggles had been murdered by him and his band of horrific followers. How could these people believe her family would ever be part of such an awful group?

She pulled herself upright in anger. “I should think that I will never join him. He’s a maniac, and anyone who says otherwise is equally as insane.”

You would have thought she had set off a bomb with how shocked their expressions were. The compartment was instantly icy. Malfoy stared her down with nothing less than hatred in his pupils. “You best hope you aren’t in Slytherin then,” he hissed. “Otherwise, you’ll be the most detested. You are a disgrace to your family name.” The rest glared at her in silent agreement, and she stood, collected her things, and left. As soon as she got outside, she calmed her shaking hands and walked away, trying not to think about the fact that she had been in such close proximity to possible killers.

As she walked down the hallway, looking for another compartment, she considered Malfoy’s words. Lyra supposed that she had quite mucked up her chances of having friends in the Slytherin house, so she just had to convince the hat to put her anywhere else. She would honestly be alright with any of the other houses. They all had their traits she admired.

Her musing was interrupted as a girl with fierce, red hair and a boy with long, black locks stormed out of a compartment ahead of her. The girl turned to her friend muttering, “What gits,” under her breath as they headed away from Lyra. Within the compartment they had exited, she could hear loud, raucous laughter, and she knew instantly it was where she wanted to be.

She opened the door to find two boys grinning at each other. One of them had circular glasses and ruffled hair, and the other had long, black hair, and a permanent smirk. At her entrance, they looked up curiously. She smiled widely in greeting.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m Lyra.”

They took to her like fish to water, and by the time they had reached Hogwarts, Lyra felt as though she had found her two best friends in James Potter and Sirius Black. Of course, she knew her parents hated the Potter family, but it mattered little to her. Sirius however was a Black, and her parents would be proud. It was astounding to Lyra, to think that these two boys from opposite sides of the pureblood world had so readily become friends.

She was filled with fresh excitement. She would be a Gryffindor! She would go on adventures with James and Sirius and they could be brave together. The thought of such a life at Hogwarts made her bubbly with happiness.

They jumped off the train, and piled into one boat as fast as they could, so they were all together. James almost pushed Sirius into the lake, and he shrieked so loudly the people in the next boat over turned their heads sharply. When they finally made it to shore, Lyra had tears of laughter staining her cheeks.

They all gathered outside of the Great Hall as Professor McGonagall explained that they were to be sorted before they could join a table. Lyra felt anxious, but not as much as she had before. She knew that James and Sirius would be her friends no matter what house she was in.

The doors opened and their sorting began. They called each student up to the dusty old hat in alphabetical order. Lyra watched the sky ceiling of the Great Hall, and listened as both James and Sirius were sorted in Gryffindor. When Sirius was sorted, there was a hush that fell over the hall. Lyra grinned. She imagined he was the first of his family not to be in Slytherin, and she hoped she would follow his example.

When her turn came, she was startled out of her daydreaming. “Lyra Shafiq!” bounced off the walls, and she hastily made her way to the front. When she glanced at the Gryffindor table, Sirius looked as though he had smelt something rotten, and James looked confused. She supposed they would tell her what was the matter when she joined them.

Lyra had been hoping for a chance to barter with the hat, but as soon as it touched her head it bellowed out loud and clear.

“Slytherin!”

She felt a stone drop into her stomach, but she got up, set the hat back down gently, and looked towards her friends hoping to see reassurance directed back at her, only they weren’t looking her direction at all. Instead, they had their heads bent forward and seemed to be having a heated discussion. She sighed and decided she could talk to them afterwards.

Her dinner was quite awful. None of her housemates talked to her, having been informed by Malfoy that she was to be avoided. She again found herself again immensely grateful to have already made friends. Maybe she could even spend meals seated at the Gryffindor table instead. She could be an honorary member of their house! The thought cheered her enough to last through the meal.

She didn’t spot James and Sirius again until they were being escorted to their common room, so she quickly split away to talk to them.

“James!” she called. “Sirius!” They stopped and turned to look at her. She halted her sprinting when she was in front of them, and out of breath she talked quickly.

“I’m so disappointed we aren’t in the same house! I was thinking though, that I could still sit with you at meals since no one in Slytherin even likes me and then-” her words drifted off as she realized they didn’t look as excited to see her as she thought they would be.

James was looking at Sirius, unsure, and Sirius was looking at her with hostility. “I hardly think it would be appropriate for you to sit with the Gryffindors, Shafiq,” he seemed angry. She looked up at him, hurt.

“Well, okay I guess. I just thought-”

“You just thought we would be friends with a Slytherin, much less someone from a family like yours?” he interrupted her. The impact of his words affected her so much she took an involuntary step away. She felt tears prick her eyes, but she held them back.

“But Sirius-” she tried to reason.

“That’s Black to you,” he snapped, and she found that all her words were gone. She had nothing else to say. With that note of finality, James and Sirius – _no_ – Potter and Black turned away from her and followed their pack of lions to their den. Lyra was left standing in the middle of the corridor with unshed tears and her heart torn to shreds.

When she finally pulled herself together, she realized that she had no idea how to find her common room. Lyra turned and walked in the direction her group had been headed in, but they were nowhere to be found. It was sheer luck that led her straight into the path of their head of house, Slughorn, and he sighed in exasperation as he led her to the concealed entrance and told her the password which was ironically “pureblood”.

She barely glanced at the common room as she headed up the stairs to her dormitory. When she reached her bed, her trunk sitting at the foot of it, she collapsed onto it and drew the curtains closed. The green silk surrounded her, and she didn’t even bother changing before she settled under the silver and green bedspread. She could hear her dorm mates talking softly nearby.

“Can’t believe she even made it into Slytherin,” one of them said.

“I know,” another responded. “What a complete waste of space.”

“A bitch,” a third agreed, and they all giggled at the serious sounding word, no adults around to scold them for using it.

Lyra had never been called such a vile name, and hearing it finally caused the building tears to spill over onto her cheeks. She was reminded of how she had cried earlier in the evening from joy, and now she was reduced to heartbreak.

She hid her sobs in her pillow until eventually she fell asleep to the sound of the lake water lapping at the window.


End file.
